Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.77 square miles (14.94 km2), of which 5.59 square miles (14.48 km2) is land and 0.18 square miles (0.47 km2) is water.[1]

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census[2] of 2010, there were 11,196 people, 3,491 households, and 2,150 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,002.9 inhabitants per square mile (773.3/km2). There were 3,697 housing units at an average density of 661.4 per square mile (255.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 90.1% White, 3.3% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.6% Asian, 2.3% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.4% of the population.

There were 3,491 households of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.4% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.99.

The median age in the city was 27.5 years. 19.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 27.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22% were from 25 to 44; 19.9% were from 45 to 64; and 11.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,747 people, 2,978 households, and 1,843 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,797.3 people per square mile (694.3/km2). There were 3,129 housing units at an average density of 577.0 per square mile (222.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.17% White, 1.57% African American, 0.43% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.25% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.04% of the population.

There were 2,978 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the city, the population was spread out with 19.8% under the age of 18, 30.6% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 16.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,344, and the median income for a family was $51,157. Males had a median income of $33,618 versus $25,789 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,634. About 4.2% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.3% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.

History

St. Peter was founded in 1853 by Captain William Bigelow Dodd, who claimed 150 acres (0.61 km2) north of what is now Broadway Avenue. He named the new settlement Rock Bend because of the rock formation at the bend of the Minnesota River. The town site was platted and surveyed in 1854 by Daniel L. Turpin. In 1855, a group of St. Paul businessmen interested in promoting the town formed the Saint Peter Company, and the town was renamed St. Peter. The president of the company was Willis A. Gorman, Territorial Governor of Minnesota. Many of the streets in St. Peter were named after streets in New York City: Park Row, Chatham, Broadway, Nassau, and Union, for example. Captain Dodd was originally from Bloomfield, New Jersey. His second wife, Harriett Newell Jones, a native of Cabot, Vermont, was living in New York at the time of their marriage at the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City, that helped fund the church in St. Peter which shares the same name.

The Broadway Bridge connects St. Peter to the east via Minnesota State Highway 99

In 1857, an attempt was made to move the Territory of Minnesota's capital from St. Paul to St. Peter. Gov. Gorman owned the land on which the bill's sponsors wanted to build the new capitol building, and at one point had been heard saying, "If the capitol remains in Saint Paul, the territory is worth millions, and I have nothing." At the time, St. Peter - a city in the central region of the territory - was seen as more accessible to the far-flung territorial legislators than St. Paul, which was in the extreme eastern portion of the territory, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. A bill was passed in both houses of the Territorial Legislature and was awaiting Governor Gorman's signature. The chairman of the Territorial Council's Enrolled Bills Committee, Joseph J. Rolette of Pembina, took the bill and hid in a St. Paul hotel, drinking and playing cards with some friends as the City Police looked fruitlessly for him, until the end of the legislative session, too late for the bill to be signed.[]Rolette came into the chamber just as the session ended. One might say that the bill was an attempt to "rob Paul to pay Peter." Today, St. Paul is the second largest city in the state (second only to neighboring Minneapolis), while St. Peter is a relatively small rural town.

In 1851 the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed between the Sioux (Dakota) and the U. S. Government just one mile (1.6 km) north of St. Peter. The Nicollet County Historical Society--Treaty Site History Center is located near the site of the treaty signing. However, the promises of the treaty were not kept. The Dakota became angered and the Dakota War of 1862 began in Cottonwood County. In August 1862 the Dakota attacked the German settlement of New Ulm. A company of volunteers from St. Peter, headed by Captain William B. Dodd, St. Peter's founder, went to the defense of New Ulm. Captain Dodd was killed on August 23, 1862, and was briefly buried in New Ulm. On November 11, 1862, Captain Dodd was buried with high military honors in St. Peter on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Communion, Episcopal, on land he donated to the church. Captain Dodd, his wife Harriet and two children are buried behind the present stone church built in 1869-70 at 118 North Minnesota Avenue.

In 1866, the Legislature established the first "Minnesota Asylum for the Insane" in St. Peter. It was later known as the St. Peter State Hospital, and is now called the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.

The most well-known of these five governors, John Albert Johnson, was born in St. Peter to Swedish-born parents on July 28, 1861. Because of family circumstances, he offered to help his mother raise the family. He left school at a young age and held a variety of jobs. In 1887, he was hired as editor of the St. Peter Herald, the local newspaper. In 1899, he was elected to the State Senate, and served until 1903. In 1904, he was elected as Minnesota's 16th Governor. He was reelected in 1906 and 1908. In 1912, he was being considered as a possible candidate for President of the United States, but died as the result of an operation for intestinaladhesions in Rochester, Minnesota on September 21, 1909. Dr. William James Mayo and Dr. Charles Horace Mayo, who came from Le Sueur, nine miles (14 km) north of St. Peter and were friends of the governor, performed the operation. After lying in State in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda, his body was taken to St. Peter for burial. The funeral, held at the Union Presbyterian Church, was the largest ever in St. Peter, and he was buried near his parents in Greenhill Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Elinore "Nora" Preston Johnson.

Mayors

Eugene St. Julien Cox 1865-1867 (also served in the state legislature and as a district court judge)

Francis E. Lange 1868-1869

William Schimmell 1870-1872 (First president of First National Bank)

Albert Knight 1873-1875 (Knight Street is named after him)

Addison L. Sackett 1876-1878 (also served as county auditor and in the state legislature)

Azro A. Stone 1879 (also served as county sheriff; Stones' Way and Stones' Park are named after him)

Tornado

On March 29, 1998, a tornado struck St. Peter, killing eight-year-old Dustin Schneider, injuring dozens more, and damaging much of the town's housing, commercial, and civic buildings. A total of 156 single-family houses and 51 apartment units were destroyed by the tornado. An additional 362 houses and apartments suffered serious damage and 1,383 houses or apartments had minor damage. The town's three trailer parks were largely spared with no mobile homes destroyed and just two seriously damaged. Major losses included the Old Central School, St. Peter Arts and Heritage Center, St. Peter's Catholic Church, St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Johnson Hall at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Churches

Bethany Alliance Church (Christian & Missionary Alliance) Established in 1961, Present church built in 1965, Church renamed Living Truth Fellowship in 2015.

Calvary Baptist Church Established in 1963, Present Church built in 1977

Church of St. Peter (Roman Catholic) Established in 1856, Present church built in 2001

Church of the Holy Communion (Episcopal) Established in 1854 Present church built in 1869-1870

First Lutheran Church (ELCA) Established in 1857 Present Church built in 1965

Good Samaritan United Methodist Church Established in 2010, no church at present time

Sunrise Assembly of God Established in 1934, present church built in 1988

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church (WELS) Established in 1867, Present church built in 1999

River of Life Lutheran Church (LCMS) Established in 2013 by Our Savior's Lutheran Church of Mankato, has been a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod since 2016.

Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) Established in 1892, Present church built in 1988

Union Presbyterian Church Established in 1869 as a result of the union of two congregations, the First Free Presbyterian Church of Traverse des Sioux Established in 1853, and the First Presbyterian Church of St. Peter Established in 1857. The present church was built in 1871.

Education

The Old Main building at Gustavus Adolphus College

Saint Peter is the home of Gustavus Adolphus College, a Lutheran-affiliated private liberal arts college founded in 1862. The public high school is St. Peter High School. There are two parochial schools in St. Peter: John Ireland Catholic School (K-6), which is associated with the Church of St. Peter, and St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran School (K-8), which along with the church is associated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Veritas et Lux Preparatory School is a private non-denominational (K-12) school.

The first class to graduate from St. Peter High School was the class of 1880. The first Superintendent of St. Peter Public Schools was Andrew Ryan McGill who served from 1865 to 1868, he served as Minnesota's Tenth Governor from 1887 to 1889.

Healthcare

Community health care is provided by St. Peter Community Hospital. In 2009 St. Peter Community Hospital was renamed River's Edge Hospital. That same year the construction of a new clinic was begun adjoining the hospital. There is now the River's Edge Clinic and the St. Peter Community Clinic, which is part of the Mayo Health System.

Saint Peter is home to the Minnesota Security Hospital where those declared by the state to be mentally ill and dangerous are committed.

Benedictine Health Care Center, formerly known as St. Peter Community Health Care Center is part of the River's Edge Hospital complex. Near the hospital Pheasants' Ridge is an assisted living facility which has a section for patients suffering from memory loss due to Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. Other health care facilities in St. Peter include Grandview Good Samaritan Center on Sunrise Drive.

River Valley Birth Center opened in St. Peter in the summer of 2014. This is the first free-standing birth center in the region.